circumnutate
Americanverb (used without object)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of circumnutate
1875–80; circum- + nutate < Latin nūtātus, past participle of nūtāre to nod in assent, sway, totter
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The several foregoing arched organs are continually circumnutating, or endeavouring to circumnutate, even before they break through the ground.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Even after the flower-heads have buried themselves in the ground they continue, as will hereafter be shown, to circumnutate.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
But the tracing shows that the basal part of the radicle continued to circumnutate irregularly during the whole time.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
It would, therefore, not be rash to assume that the growing leaves of all plants circumnutate, as we have seen reason to conclude is the case with cotyledons.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Seedling cabbages circumnutate much more quickly, for the tip of a cotyledon crossed 1/100th of an inch on the micrometer in 3 m.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
